Since this June, extraterrestrial life has been all the buzz of social media. When former intelligence official David Grusch stated in a hearing that the U.S. government was in secret possession of “non-human material,” such as extraterrestrial crash material from UFOs, the craze began. Although Grusch’s claim was not backed by any evidence, this caused a chain reaction throughout social media in which influencers falsely claimed that the government confirmed alien existence. Looking back though, UFOs have been a topic of government discussion since 1947. Let’s take a look at what has occurred between the first documented UFO sighting and the recent claims of Grusch.
- 1947-1969 The U.S. Air Force cataloged 12,618 UFO sightings, which is now referred to as Project Blue Book. Ultimately, these sightings provided no scientific knowledge and the Air Force announced in 1985 that “there are not now nor ever have been, any extraterrestrial visitors or equipment on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.” The WPAFB is where the Project Blue Book investigation occurred.
- 2004 Two Navy pilots on a training mission in San Diegowere ordered to investigate a mysterious aircraft. Flying above it, the two were able to capture on video a hovering 40 feet long aircraft, shaped like an unusual oval. One of the two pilots was David Fravor. “I have no idea what I saw,” Fravor said. “It had no plumes, wings or rotors and outran our F-18s.”
- 2007 The Pentagon launched the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) to investigate UFO sightings. The public was not informed of the program.
- 2014 After several video documentations of UFO sightings, a Navy pilot reported a near collision with one of the unidentified crafts.
- 2017 Ten years later, the Pentagon announced the AATIP existed. Although it was reported to be formally closed in 2012, it is claimed to have informally continued work until 2017.
- 2020 the Pentagon announced the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) which had the goal to “Improve its understanding of, and gain insight into, the nature and origins of the unidentified objects.”
- 2021 the Pentagon Director of National Intelligence (DNI) released a report which stated all listed UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomena) sightings from 2004 to 2021. “The report suggested that the UFOs—now known as UAPs—could fall into five likely categories: airborne clutter, natural atmospheric phenomena, public and private aerospace developmental programs, foreign adversary systems, and a catchall ‘other’ bin,” said Joel Mathis, writer for National Geographic.
- 2022 In April, the Pentagon announced the formation of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) to investigate objects that might pose a threat to national security. Soon after in July, NASA declared their own independent study program to cover UPAs from a scientific perspective.
- 2023 This June, the DNI released a follow-up report that identified an additional recorded 510 sightings. This left 171 records to remain unexplained. The hearing in which Grusch gave his so-called “whistleblower” claims also occurred this month.
Want to see more? Click on the link below. According to AARO director Seán Kirkpatrick, his office received approximately 800 reports as of late May of odd spheres. He claimed that these were the most common observations AARO received, which describes the spheres to be anywhere from 3 to 13 feet in diameter and silver, white, or translucent in color. In the following video there is a picture and video depicting these spheres.
